What is a TV licence (UK) actually for?

[satchnz]

So our TV licence is up for renewal soon and we’ve received a letter to remind us. I’ve blindly paid the licence fees over the past four years but the recent dissent amongst the population about this fee has got me wondering - where is my money going?

My understanding is that the licence fee goes to fund BBC activities (TV and radio). But the letter I received goes into more detail in terms of when you are required to pay for a licence. From my letter:

Your TV Licence lets you enjoy a huge range of TV. It covers you for:

• All TV channels, like BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Dave and international channels
• Pay TV services, like Sky, Virgin Media and BT
• Live TV on streaming services, like YouTube and Amazon Prime Video
• Everything on BBC Player

This includes recording and downloading. On any device.

I’m sure this has been discussed many times but why ITV and Channel 4 etc? Do these channels get any of the licence fee? Why international channels? Sky? Live TV on YouTube when I already pay for YT Premium? Feels like a rort to me.

I watch very little live TV, and that’s only really for news events shown live on YouTube. I’ve never attached a terrestrial aerial to any of my TVs while in the UK (if this is even a thing now), nor have I ever used a set top box to achieve the same thing. I don’t even use the TV networks online streaming platforms.

I get it that I’m liable for a licence because I watch a few hours a year of live TV on YT, so I pay the licence. But if I was to never watch any BBC produced content then why is a licence required?

 

[Jono777]

Good question and one I'd like to see someone who knows answer lol....

I've always paid mine, more so as it feels like one of those bills which cannot be avoided, bit like council tax lol.

However my sister scoffed at me a couple of weeks back saying I was mad to pay it, regardless of what they say it is for or the consequences if you don't pay.

Stuck too as I'm sure these get nasty if you avoid paying and can even refer to bailiffs / court???

 

[interlog]

It funds the likes of Lineker and other overpaid twats.

 

[satchnz]

I must add that before I started living in the UK, my only knowledge of a TV licence here was from The Young Ones where they were avoiding the TV Detector Van. Or was it from Bottom?

 

[Jono777]

Never knew until years after those vans were fake but had the country shitting themselves

 

[steveh35]

So our TV licence is up for renewal soon and we’ve received a letter to remind us. I’ve blindly paid the licence fees over the past four years but the recent dissent amongst the population about this fee has got me wondering - where is my money going?

My understanding is that the licence fee goes to fund BBC activities (TV and radio). But the letter I received goes into more detail in terms of when you are required to pay for a licence. From my letter:

Your TV Licence lets you enjoy a huge range of TV. It covers you for:

• All TV channels, like BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Dave and international channels
• Pay TV services, like Sky, Virgin Media and BT
• Live TV on streaming services, like YouTube and Amazon Prime Video
• Everything on BBC Player

This includes recording and downloading. On any device.

I’m sure this has been discussed many times but why ITV and Channel 4 etc? Do these channels get any of the licence fee? Why international channels? Sky? Live TV on YouTube when I already pay for YT Premium? Feels like a rort to me.

I watch very little live TV, and that’s only really for news events shown live on YouTube. I’ve never attached a terrestrial aerial to any of my TVs while in the UK (if this is even a thing now), nor have I ever used a set top box to achieve the same thing. I don’t even use the TV networks online streaming platforms.

I get it that I’m liable for a licence because I watch a few hours a year of live TV on YT, so I pay the licence. But if I was to never watch any BBC produced content then why is a licence required?

You need a tv licence fee to watch any live broadcast in the UK including ones on Youtube, Netflix and any programme live or recorded on the BBC I-player, if you watch a none live programme on Youtube or Amazon or Netflix you do not need a TV Licence.

If however you choose to watch a none live show on Netflix or Amazon and you stumble across a live show and click on it then you will need a licence and can be done for not having a licence

In 2027 the licence fee is up for review and streaming services could be added to take into account the increasing use of streaming services.

itv and channel 4 do not receive any of the licence fee money although S4C and some other minority channels are funded from the licence.

You need to separate the "I don't watch the BBC" and the live viewing, you may pay the BBC when you pay for your licence but the law says you need one to watch live tv not to fund the BBC.

 

[dunover]

The Wireless Act requires a TV license. It funds the British Board of Communists (BBC) but that is not why we have one - it's a license to own and operate any TV signal receiving equipment. So PCs, set top boxes, cable, aerials, satellite receivers etc.

Basically a tax on access to the televisual media. Australia said 'Farc that!' when they tried it, NZ's was abolished after a campaign of non-payment disobedience.

Your usage of the state propaganda channels is completely irrelevant.

 

[geordiecolin]

The license fee goes towards the maintainance of their hommage to that godfather of peado's who had sex with his own daughters and even the family dog,Eric Gill which is situated at the main entrance to the BBC building.
That and to pay for expensive lawyers that fend off the accusations against the perverted activities conducted by those they employ.
Each time the license fee is up for review the government of the time use it as a stick to ensure the the BBC keep on message and ensures ministers are treat to very nice meals.
A lot of people that I know simply ignore the threatening letters and have not paid or been visited in 5 years or more.
There are a lot of videos on youtube that instruct how to not pay that outdated tax. The numbers not paying is growing fast

 

[mulven]

I've never paid the TV licence fee in my life and I don't plan to. I do pay tax though.

Since I moved to Glasgow I've not had a single visit from one of those vampires - no slight on the people who do the job, its just that they can't enter without being invited in.

I like to sail the high seas anyways, too many streaming platforms and too much money these days. All I'll say is Stremio+RealDebrid=Jackpot. Both those things are legal to use, it's just how ya use them thats up to you.

I do not condone or encourage any illegal activities, x200b wagering, max bet £0.10, 10s delay per spin, £5 SOW check

 

[geordiecolin]

The fact that we where conned and lied to by the BBC via lying in their broadcasting clips of their vans locating those without a license, their tv adverts on ITV, newpaper stories of those being "detected" and sometimes imprisoned for repeat offending then it is an indication of how easy the system can control us and our way of thinking.

 

[satchnz]

I like to sail the high seas anyways, too many streaming platforms and too much money these days. All I'll say is Stremio+RealDebrid=Jackpot. Both those things are legal to use, it's just how ya use them thats up to you.

I do not condone or encourage any illegal activities, x200b wagering, max bet £0.10, 10s delay per spin, £5 SOW check

The only service I pay for is YouTube. Otherwise I have access to all the content I’d ever want, including live sports. I’ve been toying with the idea of Stremio and RD if my current source ever disappears.

 

[geordiecolin]

The only service I pay for is YouTube. Otherwise I have access to all the content I’d ever want, including live sports. I’ve been toying with the idea of Stremio and RD if my current source ever disappears.

I only ever watch terrestrial tv for the odd sports or concert. TV stick and Youtuve does me. All of the woke shit and bullshit spouted on the news would just do my head in

 

[mulven]

The only service I pay for is YouTube. Otherwise I have access to all the content I’d ever want, including live sports. I’ve been toying with the idea of Stremio and RD if my current source ever disappears.

I have access to on demand stuff through my "live" source but never use it. Stremio allows me to watch at seamless speed with the highest quality possible (e.g. bluray REMUX 7.1 sound 80GB files for big movies)

 

[Webzcas]

Seriously hacked off with paying for the TV licence. If I did not watch live sports ie I have a subscription to DAZN, I would cancel and put up with the quarterly inconvenience of goons from the BBC employed Capita turning up to see if I watch either the BBC or live broadcasts.

The sooner the BBC is defunded the better. It is 2025 not 1955. Let them become a commercial entity and compete with the likes of Netflix et al for our £'s

 

[goatwack]

It's an antiquated TV tax that is written into law, despite its irrelevance in today's customer-led streaming landscape.

Governments don't want to abolish it, despite its outmoded model, and far from being the standard-bearer in an age of Television when there were around three channels, it serves mostly as a propaganda outlet incapable of producing any content to justify its fee.

With the granny-scaring TV licence ads all but debunked after around half a century, their only card left to play is the bolded, threatening letters in which to wrangle their £130's worth of flesh, albeit one can simply opt to not have a licence at all - this is done by informing them directly, and must be 'updated' once a year (much like the extortion racket they exert on auntie Fanny).

Yes, 'TV Licence Inspectors' don't have to be let in to your property, and yes, they can be told to be on their merry way, as for when one is unfortunate enough to encounter them.

As long as it's not content streamed from the BBC i-player itself, nor obviously watching 'live' programming on any of the terrestrial channels, recorded programmes on e.g YouTube are fine. Though with VPN-usage now commonplace, with that went the BBC's last leverage, so I say 'good luck' with ascertaining BBC usage!

 

[satchnz]

£130

£169.50

But I knew I could count on you for an in depth reply! Cheers!

 

[Reelsoffun]

it's a license to own and operate any TV signal receiving equipment. So PCs, set top boxes, cable, aerials, satellite receivers

I’m afraid this is wrong, you don’t need a tv licence for just owning equipment, as @steveh35 says you only need a TV licence to watch ANY live broadcast no matter the channel, platform eg sky, Netflix, prime etc or to watch iPlayer.

However as more and more people are realising this, I can’t see this continuing to be the case.

I have not had a TV licence for over 30years, as I don’t legally need one. I watch nothing live, and don’t use iPlayer, but I do have TVs etc used for other things eg Netflix.

 

[andysbetting1187]

Never had a TV license - don't ever intend on getting one. They stopped knocking on my front door around 4 years ago. They used to be relentless - they stopped knocking in the end after I resorted to answering the front door completley naked and invited them into the house - for some reason they never came back

Not sure if I should be offended or not.

 

[Reelsoffun]

Never had a TV license - don't ever intend on getting one. They stopped knocking on my front door around 4 years ago. They used to be relentless - they stopped knocking in the end after I resorted to answering the front door completley naked and invited them into the house - for some reason they never came back

Not sure if I should be offended or not.

LOL that was brave, not sure I would have risked calling their bluff in the buff by potentially giving them permission to enter the house, but fair play sounds like it worked

 

[mulven]

Never had a TV license - don't ever intend on getting one. They stopped knocking on my front door around 4 years ago. They used to be relentless - they stopped knocking in the end after I resorted to answering the front door completley naked and invited them into the house - for some reason they never came back

Not sure if I should be offended or not.

Honestly I'm pretty disappointed I've never had a visit in a similar amount of time, I've been looking forward to actually meeting one and just messing with them or letting of a bit of steam till they leave.

Last time i remember seeing one in the flesh was when I was school age and they knocked on the door at my mums house.

 

[mulven]

LOL that was brave, not sure I would have risked calling their bluff in the buff by potentially giving them permission to enter the house, but fair play sounds like it worked

definitely rolling the dice there, there'll definitely be atleast one naturist/nudist who works for them.

 

[dunover]

I’m afraid this is wrong, you don’t need a tv licence for just owning equipment, as @steveh35 says you only need a TV licence to watch ANY live broadcast no matter the channel, platform eg sky, Netflix, prime etc or to watch iPlayer.

However as more and more people are realising this, I can’t see this continuing to be the case.

I have not had a TV licence for over 30years, as I don’t legally need one. I watch nothing live, and don’t use iPlayer, but I do have TVs etc used for other things eg Netflix.

Semantics really, as I can't see a scenario where you could watch live TV in your address without equipment. You must have equipment to be able to watch live TV whether you do or not. The equipment to receive live TV must be present for you to be prosecuted. DVD players etc. linked to a monitor without internet connection or aerials are exempt. The license applies to residents of any given address, it can actually be used to cover family members say in halls of residence at university too.

I actually said 'license to own/operate TV signal receiving equipment' obviously the signal you receive must be live!

 

[justdoit]

IPTV works fine, over 24000 channels £50 a year from some chines guy on ali express , never paid for TV licence

 

[satchnz]

IPTV works fine, over 24000 channels £50 a year from some chines guy on ali express , never paid for TV licence

But you have to view it using one of those dodgy android TV boxes?

 

[mulven]

Semantics really, as I can't see a scenario where you could watch live TV in your address without equipment. You must have equipment to be able to watch live TV whether you do or not. The equipment to receive live TV must be present for you to be prosecuted. DVD players etc. linked to a monitor without internet connection or aerials are exempt. The license applies to residents of any given address, it can actually be used to cover family members say in halls of residence at university too.

I actually said 'license to own/operate TV signal receiving equipment' obviously the signal you receive must be live!

With TV packages being sold without the need for antennas

But you have to view it using one of those dodgy android TV boxes?

No, a proper one will give you an xtream code or m3u which can be used with any device and app.

I personally use tivimate which is one of these best UX, looks and works much better than all the generic apps most services reskin for their first-party app.

Can run on android TV, streaming sticks, phone etc. there are similar apps for apple TV. Something like a proper formuler box would be needed for recording and/or rewinding, I currently use without such features.

 

[justdoit]

But you have to view it using one of those dodgy android TV boxes?

no just app on TV or PC
they also have all Netflix and Amzon videos

 

[mulven]

Just realised my last reply was on top of a reply to dunover that I abandoned, whoopsie, messy.

 

[Reelsoffun]

Semantics really, as I can't see a scenario where you could watch live TV in your address without equipment. You must have equipment to be able to watch live TV whether you do or not. The equipment to receive live TV must be present for you to be prosecuted. DVD players etc. linked to a monitor without internet connection or aerials are exempt. The license applies to residents of any given address, it can actually be used to cover family members say in halls of residence at university too.

I actually said 'license to own/operate TV signal receiving equipment' obviously the signal you receive must be live!

Yes, but you implied that you needed a tv licence for just having receiving equipment in the house, which is also present in my house, but still don’t need a tv licence, as I don’t watch live programs, inc sport or use iPlayer. But yeah I get what you sort of mean.

On the other side of the coin my mate has no TV’s in his house at all but still pays for a tv licence because legally he needs one, as he watches live programs on his iPad and uses iPlayer occasionally.

One part of the rules I have never been clear on as it don’t apply to me anyway but, would you technically need a TV licence if you have a bet on say sky bet and use the watch live option? I would say yes you would need to be covered by a licence for that scenario to.

 

[justdoit]

this guys make good videos about TV licence

 

[satchnz]

This thread has turned in a direction I didn’t intend lol.

I always thought IPTV was just for live content, not on demand content. I’ve learned something new today

 

[mulven]

This thread has turned in a direction I didn’t intend lol.

I always thought IPTV was just for live content, not on demand content. I’ve learned something new today

I'd still advise getting your on demand content outwith IPTV for the best UX. DM if you need any help getting setup with totally legal stuff.

 

[satchnz]

I'd still advise getting your on demand content outwith IPTV for the best UX. DM if you need any help getting setup with totally legal stuff.

Cheers mate, appreciate the offer. I’ve been free of live TV for the past seven years or so (except for live sports and the odd news) and only watch on demand content.

Prior to that I had a Windows Media Centre PC with which I’d record any broadcast content for later viewing. I had a card reader in it which read my legal Sky TV NZ set top box card. I used one piece of software which read which channels I was subscribed to from the card. The second piece of software took the satellite signal from my Sky dish and decoded the channels according to what was read from my card. This was then fed into Windows Media Centre to view and record, and I could only ever view the channels my Sky sub included. It was quite a complex setup which did require constant maintenance but it worked for me at the time.

 

[justdoit]

This thread has turned in a direction I didn’t intend lol.

I always thought IPTV was just for live content, not on demand content. I’ve learned something new today

make sure you have speedy internet like 200mbps, on slow internet iptv dont work

 

[mulven]

make sure you have speedy internet like 200mbps, on slow internet iptv dont work

Sounds like you have a crap provider, I have shitty 40mbps and I'm fine. Craps our if we try and watch 3 streams at once though

 

[justdoit]

Sounds like you have a crap provider, I have shitty 40mbps and I'm fine. Craps our if we try and watch 3 streams at once though

40mbps ? or 400mbps?

 

[mulven]

40mbps ? or 400mbps?
View attachment 206473

40mbps, BT emailed saying the FTTP lines should be installed early this year.

A 4K source is probably about 12-20mbps bandwidth. Some 720p/1080p should be single digits.

Granted I live alone so you might run into issues in a family house with the bandwidth stretched but if there are stability issues with a source and you are the only one using the internet at the time, its not your speeds fault.

 

[justdoit]

40mbps, BT emailed saying the FTTP lines should be installed early this year.

A 4K source is probably about 12-20mbps bandwidth. Some 720p/1080p should be single digits.

Granted I live alone so you might run into issues in a family house with the bandwidth stretched but if there are stability issues with a source and you are the only one using the internet at the time, its not your speeds fault.
View attachment 206474

you need full fibre, in london net is very cheap now £19 a month for 500mbps

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[mulven]

you need full fibre, in london net is very cheap now £19 a month for 500mbps

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

I mean I'd like it too, just need to wait for it to be ready then I'm chugging down a 500mbps package

 

[satchnz]

We pay for 900 down, 110 up. Rarely get over 500 down, even on Ethernet.

 

[satchnz]

@dunover @Reelsoffun

I’m currently studying for my “Life in the UK” test for my next Visa, and the need for a TV licence is referenced in the official study material. The exact wording is

“Everyone in the UK with a TV, computer or other medium which can be used for watching TV must have a television licence. One licence covers all of the equipment in one home”

Interesting that it doesn’t spell out that if you watch certain content you need a licence (which was my understanding). It makes one believe that simply the presence of such equipment qualifies as requiring a licence.

Vague on purpose?

 

[dunover]

@dunover @Reelsoffun

I’m currently studying for my “Life in the UK” test for my next Visa, and the need for a TV licence is referenced in the official study material. The exact wording is

“Everyone in the UK with a TV, computer or other medium which can be used for watching TV must have a television licence. One licence covers all of the equipment in one home”

Interesting that it doesn’t spell out that if you watch certain content you need a licence (which was my understanding). It makes one believe that simply the presence of such equipment qualifies as requiring a licence.

Vague on purpose?

Yes, that was why I mentioned 'television signal receiving equipment' which is what it covers you to use, whatever that equipment is, that can directly or indirectly allow viewing of live TV at that address, and also covers people like students who live there but temporarily reside at university halls of residence for example.
Monitors, DVD players, VCR's etc. that are used to play recorded things or purchased recordings but cannot receive or decode live TV signals are exempt. So if you had those but also an aerial or cable into your house which they could be connected to, you would need a license irrespective of whether you connected them or not. With no means to connect to a signal at your property, you wouldn't require a license to watch prerecorded material.

 

[satchnz]

And now for the question to accompany the study material:

 

[justdoit]

And now for the question to accompany the study material:

View attachment 206583

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[mulven]

And now for the question to accompany the study material:

View attachment 206583

give them the propagandist answer that they want

 

[satchnz]

give them the propagandist answer that they want

I have no choice

 

[Reelsoffun]

And now for the question to accompany the study material:

View attachment 206583

Whoever wrote that test question needs a new job or like many, does not understand the law, as it stands neither answer is technically correct, but both could be correct at the same time.

A, (YES) Any household that watches any live TV broadcast or uses iPlayer needs a TV licence.
A, (NO) If no one watches any live TV broadcast or uses iPlayer in the household, a TV licence is not required.

B, (YES) If people only watch live TV on their computers or use iPlayer via computer or record live broadcasts they need a licence.
B, (NO) If people use a computer to watch NONE live TV broadcasts eg streamed content and don’t use iPlayer they still do not need a licence.

Ridiculous, how that is purposely worded to confuse people.

 

[Reelsoffun]

@dunover @Reelsoffun


“Everyone in the UK with a TV, computer or other medium which can be used for watching TV must have a television licence. One licence covers all of the equipment in one home

Vague on purpose?

Absolutely vague on purpose,

as it’s also not just “homes” that need to be licensed, its premises as well, eg pubs.